olor | From a Barcelona Hotel to British Candle Making

We knew we had to bring these fragrances back to life at home.

— OLOR’s official retrospective, “The OLOR Story So Far….”

In 2019, Louise Rogers and Jonathan Robe encountered a woody fragrance at their hotel in Barcelona. It followed them from the entrance through the corridor and into their room, welcoming them back after a day on foot. They wanted to bring something of that atmosphere into their own home. That wish was the beginning of olor, a British home fragrance brand.

Contents

At a Glance
Founders and Brand History
How Olor Makes Its Home Fragrances
References

At a Glance

Beginnings Conceived in 2019, incorporated as OLOR Limited in 2020, and first released in May 2021
Founders Louise Rogers and Jonathan Robe
Made in Derbyshire, England
Official websites UK website and Japanese website

Founders and Brand History

A Barcelona Hotel and the Scent Rogers Wanted at Home

Rogers had long used fragrance to shape the feel of a room, trying scented candles, diffusers and room sprays in search of one that suited her. She often found them cloying, or discovered after an evening with a candle that it was different from what she wanted. That search for a scent she wanted to live with was one reason she and her partner Robe started olor.

Home fragrance is key to creating the vibe of my home.

— Louise Rogers

Barcelona gave the two a concrete starting point. The woody hotel fragrance inspired Mandarin + Sandalwood. They also chose a name from the language of the city they had visited. In Catalan, olor means a smell or scent.

Around 200 Trial Candles in the Kitchen

The founders took a perfumery course to learn how to build a fragrance, and studied candle making with award-winning makers. Composing the scent was one step. They also needed to find out how it would travel through a room once the candle was lit.

Ours started on the kitchen table (well the island to be exact).

— OLOR’s official retrospective, “The OLOR Story So Far….”

They melted their first piece of wax at home one Sunday afternoon. The first candles had uneven tops, and the pair were still unsure whether they had chosen the right wick. After around 200 trial candles they began to see a breakthrough and worked towards a candle that could carry its scent into a room. Alongside those trials, they explored materials, shapes and colours for the vessel.

Four Scents, from Makers’ Markets to a Department Store

The founders incorporated OLOR Limited on 14 October 2020 and released their first products on 1 May 2021. They launched with four scents across three formats, the Classic Candle, Travel Candle and Wax Melt. A wax melt is scented wax without a wick, warmed in a burner.

Orders began coming in on launch day, with support from family and friends. By the second day, orders had arrived from people the founders had never met. They took their products to makers’ markets, where they learned to strike up conversations with passers-by. Selling in person let them introduce the scents themselves and hear what customers thought.

In July 2021, olor held its first pop-up at John Lewis in the Trafford Centre. Some people who discovered the brand there later came to other events or placed orders online. As the business grew, the founders moved into larger premises. In Derbyshire today, the team makes the products by hand, checks each item and packs it.

Olor in Japan

HOWMORE LIVING imported olor directly from the UK and featured the brand at its 2024 Christmas fair, including the three-candle Festive Trio. In September 2026, the retailer’s flagship in Kuramae hosted an advance release of the Flower Collection, a range inspired by flowers, herbs, citrus and other plants.

How Olor Makes Its Home Fragrances

A Hotel’s Woody Scent and the Places Flowers Bring to Mind

In Mandarin + Sandalwood, pink pepper and cardamom lend spice to the brightness of mandarin, while a cocoa bean note softens the woody sandalwood note. The hotel’s woody scent gave the founders a starting point for a composition that brings citrus brightness and woody warmth together.

White Flowers pairs neroli with basil and Sicilian lemon. That neroli reminds Rogers of white bitter-orange blossoms in places such as Seville. When she lights it on a rainy day in England, she pictures a Mediterranean market with oranges and pots of basil. A place can give rise to a fragrance, and a fragrance lit at home can bring a place back to mind.

Candlelight and Reed Diffusion

Mandarin + Sandalwood comes as a Classic Candle and a reed diffuser. The Classic Candle uses a soy wax blend and a cotton wick, with translucent white glass that lets the light of the flame show through. In a reed diffuser, sticks draw up the scented liquid and disperse it into the room. The same scent has a place in both the time set aside to light a candle and the hours when fragrance simply stays in the room.

Packaging That Gives Scent a Colour

The founders spent time on the boxes as well as the vessels they held. At home, Rogers likes to mix mid-century furniture with rugs and throws brought back from her travels, setting different colours and textures against a calm interior.

We both have a huge passion for design.

— Louise Rogers

At olor, the colour of a box offers a clue to the scent inside. The Mandarin + Sandalwood Classic Candle pairs a white glass vessel with an orange-led box with blue and pink shapes. When the first boxes went to press, the founders visited the printers and watched the plates for each colour go in and the proofs being adjusted for colour and alignment. The box for the current Classic Candle is recyclable and made from FSC-certified card.

When the business moved to larger premises, Rogers matched the workroom floor to the brand’s pink carrier bags. She loved the colour, though she found it a challenge to keep clean.